The present invention relates to oral hygiene tools and in particular device for flossing and relating oral hygiene attachments for a toothbrush.
It has been recognized in the art of oral hygiene devices that it would be convenient to provide multiple functionality in a single hand tool, that is a means to brush clean the exposed tooth surfaces as well as another tool, such as tensioned dental floss, to remove debris and/or plaque from below the portions of the gum line that are not reached by a brush.
Prior methods of providing dental floss and a tooth brush in a single device attempt to dispose the toothbrush and the dental floss at the opposite sides of a an elongated stick like handle than the brush. Exemplary design includes those disclosed in US Patent application Nos.'s: US2003188761; US2003005544; and US2006260635, as well as U.S. Pat. No. 5,924,429. A shortcoming of this design is that it is inconvenient to grip the tool on the brush side when flossing
In an alternative approach, spooled dental floss is disposed on the same side of the handle as the brush, but on the back, opposite the brush. Such concepts are disclosed in U.S Pat. Nos. 6,772,770 and 6,095,157, as well as U.S Pat. Appl. No. US2002121283. The dental floss is generally tensioned on supports being threaded from a spool. However, in this design the spool and floss device can interfere with normal use of the tooth brush. Moreover, the bristles of the brush portion can interfere with the use of the dental floss. Such designs also present the problem that the spooled floss stored with or proximate the handle may be contaminated during use.
Another attempt to combine two oral hygiene devices is disclosed in U.S Pat. Appl. No. US20070100360 for a combination flossing device and tongue scraper. The device is essentially a pairs of tines that support tensioned dental floss. The tongue scraper is blade disposed opposite the tines and floss. In contrast, U.S Pat. Appl. NO. US200400237995 discloses a toothbrush having a hollow handle that conceals the refillable toothpaste, the dental floss and the tongue scraper. In contrast, the German with patent publication NO. DE19850325 discloses a dental care unit that comprises a sliding inter-dental brush, tooth pick and extensible dental floss set individually or all together in a head for fitting onto tooth brush. The inter-dental brush, tooth pick and floss can be turned to extend out and in by a rotary disc.
It should be noted that the aforementioned prior art does not provide a means for attaching a flossing device on a mechanical tooth brush head that the consumer chooses separately, such as an mechanical rotary tooth brush or ultrasonic tooth brush.
It should also be appreciated that the integrated designs of a flossing device in a tooth brush limits the consumers choice to a particular type of toothbrush, eliminating the options for a preference in a softness or the configuration of the bristles, as well as the option for use with an electric toothbrush of any type the consumer might already own.
It is therefore a first object of the present invention to provide a more flexible means for supplying a single device that allows floss and various oral hygiene aids to be attached or incorporated to a variety of toothbrushes, so as to encourage flossing as part of an oral hygiene regimen.
It is a further object of the invention to provide such a means wherein the brush and the floss holder/dispenser do not interfere with their respective operations.
It is a further object of the invention to provide such a device that is more hygienic in that the floss is not likely to be contaminated or used multiple times.